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Truth testing Republican National Convention claims

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Updated: 5:49 PM EDT Jul 19, 2016

A number of speakers took the stage in Cleveland Monday and made some bold claims. Among them, that Hillary Clinton lied about what she knew regarding the 2012 attacks on Americans in Benghazi. WESH 2 Reporter Greg Fox fact checks the statements made.

Truth testing Republican National Convention claims

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Updated: 5:49 PM EDT Jul 19, 2016

ORLANDO, Fla. —

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani had the crowd at the Republican National Convention eating out of his hands Monday night, but what he was feeding them was a distortion of the record on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Giuliani accused the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee of “lying” about that attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, on Sept. 11, 2012.

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“Hillary Clinton (was) lying directly to the families of the people who were killed in the attack right to their face,” Giuliani said. The statement drew a loud chorus of booing from the RNC delegates.

The attack in 2012 killed four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.

Giuliani loudly painted a picture of President Barack Obama and then-Secretary Clinton covering up the reasons behind the attack, and not caring that it resulted in lost lives.

"Hillary Clinton's answer to Congress about the deaths of these four brave Americans because of her gross failures as secretary of state was “What difference does it make?” Giuliani said.

Giuliani’s statement to the RNC is a gross distortion of the context of that statement.

On Jan. 23, 2013, Clinton was answering a question in a Senate hearing about whether the Benghazi attack may have been spurred by an anti-Muslim video.

Here is the full answer to that question. Clinton: “With all due respect the fact is we had four dead Americans. Was it because of a protest? Or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they were going to kill some Americans? What difference at this point does it make?” Given the full scope of the question and answer at the time, Giuliani’s statement is pure distortion.

According to a Factcheck.org timeline of the events surrounding the Benghazi episode, it was not until Sept. 21, 2012, 10 days after the deadly violence, that Clinton called it an act of "terrorism" for the first time. It was not until mid-October 2012 that Clinton told CNN the "fog of war" and the chaos surrounding the attack, led to the Obama administration's initial belief, that it was sparked by an anti-Muslim video.

Sessions uses conservative leaning report to blur jobs picture

Before Giuliani spoke, Alabama’s junior senator, Jeff Sessions, took the stage and criticized the jobs and immigration records of President Obama.

“From 2000 to 2014 while our existing population increased by millions, the number of jobs held by Americans actually declined. Amazingly all of the net job growth during that period went to immigrants,” Sessions said.

What the juiced-up GOP crowd likely took away from that statement is: "because of President Obama, immigrants are coming into our country and stealing our jobs.”

Regardless of context, the statement, "Amazingly all of the net job growth during that period went to immigrants is false," according to numerous research organizations that have debunked this statement popularized by Democrat-bashing Republicans.

Sessions was citing results of a controversial study from an anti-immigrant organization that's been used by Republicans to attack the policies of Democratic politicians.

In the report from the "Center For Immigration Studies it reads: "Since 2000, all net gains in jobs have gone to immigrants, legal and illegal." But according to numerous research groups, including "Media Matters" statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics clearly show job growth by "native-born" Americans far outpacing that of immigrants.

The study ignores changes from the recession, and ignores Baby Boomer retirements in figuring the true numbers.

Additionally, Republican George W. Bush was president during most of the years included in this report.